The next morning, Hogg walked with Brin towards Davi’s farm on the way to the morning workout. Calisto’s potion had finally removed the last traces of the [Witch’s] curse, but his muscles had shrunk in the past several months. He was practically a skeleton, with his black leathers hanging loose against his frame.
Despite that, he walked with a firm energy, reveling in the experience of walking on his own two feet again. “I’ll be back to form in no time at all. You’ll see! A body remembers the way it’s supposed to be. Some good food, some healthful exercise, and I’ll be right back. You’ll see.”
To that, Brin could only smile nervously. “Sure.”
Davi was already pumping the bench press when they arrived, with Zilly spotting him. Davi stopped and sat up. “Oh, I wasn’t sure if you’d want to come. What with Lumina leaving today.”
Brin shrugged. “She likes to sleep in.”
Hogg rubbed his hands together, eyeing the bench press with excitement. “Stand up, let me at it.”
“Do you want me to take some weight off?” asked Davi.
“No need.” Hogg hardly waited for Davi to sit up before laying down in his place. He pumped the full weight, more than six hundred pounds, three times, but then had to stop because he was already out of breath.
It didn’t surprise Brin that Hogg was able to lift the weight. His level might be double Brin’s, or close to that, so even though he was a Dexterity-main, his Strength score was probably through the roof. It was a testament to how weak the sickness had left him that he was struggling here. Attributes were a modifier, meaning that with less muscle you still might be weaker than someone with a lower score if they were more muscular.
Hogg waited for a half a minute, then did three more before running out of breath again. He waited for another two minutes until he was totally recovered, and then knocked out five in a row.
After that he was panting so badly that Brin thought he was going to pass out. He didn’t seem put out by his lack of stamina, and smiled at the bench press. “This… is… ingenious! I wish… I had one of these… when I was younger!”
“Yeah, it’s pretty neat,” said Brin. He went next, and also didn’t move any weight. He knocked out ten. He knew Davi did reps of thirty at this weight. The big guy was still ahead, but Brin was gaining on him.
Zilly went next. They did remove some weight for her, but she didn’t seem put out by it.
“So what’s next?” Hogg asked when Zilly was done.
“Maybe we should be asking you that,” said Zilly.
“Nonsense. I have my own training routine, sure, but we can do that some other time. I want to see what you lot have been up to. It’s past time, honestly.”
There was no way that Hogg didn’t know exactly what workouts they did, when his Class made it so easy to spy on people, but Brin didn’t call him out. Instead, they took the old codger through the whole set. Brin and Davi had worked out a regimen that hit every muscle group.
Hogg kept up with it all. He tired easily, but after a minute or two to catch his breath, he was always ready for more.
Strangely, though, he always seemed to be able to do more on his last rep than on his first. If he did five squats the first time, the next would be six and then the last would be ten. He seemed to be giving it all every time, so it wasn’t that he was saving his strength.
By the end of the workout, Brin was certain that something strange was happening. Hogg’s black leathers didn’t hang quite so loose on him.
“I have two questions,” Brin announced. “First, who works out in leather? That can’t be comfortable.”
Hogg plucked at his overcoat, offended. “It’s what I like.”
“Second, what kind of drug did Calisto give you that lets you build muscle this fast, and why aren’t we all taking it?”
“Seriously! You lot build muscle like it’s nothing. Do you know how hard it’s been to get these abs?” asked Zilly, lifting up her shirt to show off her stomach.
Brin looked on instinct, and also saw Zilly notice him look with a glimmer of satisfaction in her eyes. He felt his face grow a little hot, despite his best efforts. Damn teenage hormones.
Hogg missed all of it. “Don’t even think about it. If there ever was a potion from Calisto, it would’ve been a recovery potion. Not something to grow your muscles the first time. Remember: Honest continuous labor or brave feats of heroism. That’s the way to please the System.”
Zilly and Davi nodded seriously, so Brin felt it his duty to roll his eyes a little bit.
“Well, I take it that was all we’re doing for today?” asked Hogg.
“Yeah, that’s all we had planned,” said Davi.
“Perfect. Why don’t we head over to the public house and get breakfast. If I don’t eat something in, say, the next forty-three and a half minutes, I’ll literally die,” said Hogg.
“I hate when people misuse that word. You mean you’ll figuratively die,” said Davi.
Hogg didn’t respond right away.
Brin put his head in his hands and groaned. “He meant what he said. Sounds like a side-effect of some kind of drug he may or may not have taken?”
“Who can say?” Hogg spread his hands wide, acting entirely too casual for someone who might die in half an hour if Hela was on break.
“Please tell me there’s a plan B,” said Brin.
“Of course!” Hogg pulled some jerky out of his pocket. “I have an emergency stash. But I’d rather not, honestly. So. Breakfast?”
“Sure!” said Zilly, skipping ahead.
The four of them walked into town. The destroyed part of town had already been in the process of being rebuilt, but now a forest of wooden frames heralded new construction. From the looks of things, the new buildings would be four, five, and sometimes even six stories tall. They weren’t just planning on new spaces for the people who’d just arrived; they expected this was just the beginning.
New immigrants worked with native Boggers, even this early in the morning, and the air was filled with the sound of banging hammers.
Alert! Hide Status leveled up! 3 -> 4
Someone had just [Inspected] him. That’s the only reason that Skill would advance. Someone had used [Inspect] and his embarrassingly low [Hide Status] had been enough to hide his real Class. Brin very carefully didn’t look around to see who might have done that. It had to have been one of the new arrivals.
After only another block, he got another one.
Alert! Hide Status leveled up! 4 -> 5
It made sense, he supposed. People had been focused on other things during the feast, and he hadn’t been in town yesterday.
The public house was nearly empty, but Hela stood behind the counter for the first time since before the battle. She looked skeletal-thin, but seemed to be in good spirits.
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“Oh! Our little band of heroes are back. Sit anywhere you like, dears.”
Breakfast food wasn’t really the same here, so the heathens with him ate some kind of greasy bird meat from the caravan, but Hela was happy to make Brin eggs with a few thick slices of bacon.
Even though the three of them were teenagers and the food kept coming until they were full, Hogg still ate more than all of them combined. He ordered a steak when the bird was gone, and then gobbled down an entire loaf of bread.
“So what are your plans for today?” asked Zilly.
“It’s Lumina’s last day in town,” Brin said. “I’m going to see if she has one last lesson planned.”
“I know what I want to see. I want to see how you stack up against the other kids she’s been teaching. A tournament of the apprentice [Mages],” said Hogg.
“She hasn’t let us duel with magic this whole time. She’s not going to go for that.”
It turned out that Lumina would in fact go for that. No less than an hour later, she had the four of them lined up in the center of the town square. It was still in the middle of a shift and no one had warned the town that this would be happening, but a sizable crowd had gathered nonetheless. Even the Prefit was there. He’d had clothes tailored to his new thin size, and looked like an excellently dressed scarecrow.
Myra stood next to him, looking hesitant. She was used to stares from the townsfolk, but was probably nervous about the duels. Rodrige the [Carpenter] beamed at the onlookers, radiating confidence. Gill let his shaggy hair fall over his eyes and hunched over, wilting under all the attention.
Lumina turned to the four of them and nodded. “Hello everyone, and welcome. My cute little students want to test their Skills, so we’ve decided to put on a little show. Here’s how we’ll do this. This is to be a test of magic. They will propel tools and elements with magic only; if this devolves into a brutish slugging match, I’ll call it off. I’ve set up a dome around here to protect you all, and I’ll be ready to intercept any magic before it damages the bodies of the contestants as well. However, holds and low amounts of damage will be permitted. The fight will end when I block enough damage to call it lethal. Students, go for the kill shot! This is to simulate a fight to the death.”
Rodrige nodded eagerly, while Myra was less certain and Gill didn’t move at all. If holds were allowed then that meant that Myra would probably try to strangle her opponent with thread. Hopefully he wouldn’t be paired against her.
“Now, as for the pairs. All of you will fight Brin, one by one,” Lumina continued.
Rodrige chuckled, while Myra gasped. Brin frowned.
“Call this favoritism if you want, but that isn’t it. Brin’s magic stat is by far the highest out of you. His mana pool is more than large enough for sustained casting, while the rest of you will be exhausted after one fight. If more than one of you manage to defeat him, then I’ll provide mana potions and you can face off against each other.
Gill raised his hand. “Can I go first?”
“If you wish,” Lumina said with a nod.
The two of them walked about ten paces apart and stood to face each other. He couldn’t say they sized each other up. Gill’s eyes were covered by hair and he didn’t raise his head to meet Brin’s eyes.
Gill was a [Woodworker] and all his power focused on moving and manipulating wood. In lessons, he'd learned to grow trees that could draw energy from the ground. It let him use magic quicker than the others had managed, but the downside of that was that he'd run out of mana quickly. If Brin could last fifteen seconds, Gill would be completely drained.
“Begin,” said Lumina.
Gill’s hands shot up, and a small forest of saplings erupted from the ground around him. “
He heard gasps from the crowd as such a huge amount of lumber was summoned in a mere instant.
“
His spears shot forward, only to be deflected by Gill's rapidly growing wall of wood.
“
Gill’s branches shot forward, growing towards Brin at an alarming pace. Still, he was growing the wood not using it as a projectile, so the speed was slow enough that Brin could dodge. He rolled out of the way, and the wooden branches readjusted, growing towards him again. He’d follow Brin wherever he went, and eventually he’d have to cross ground already full of wood and be trapped.
Brin could outlast him, assuming he didn’t get trapped, but it didn’t seem sporting. He wanted to win on skill, not just points.
His glass was pretty bad at cutting through wood. He doubted he’d be able to blow through Gill’s defenses, even if he used his strongest javelin. He needed to try something more sneaky.
“
He sprayed a barrage of bullets at Gill. Most of them bounced off harmlessly, a few rolling on the ground near his feet. Brin pushed mana into those bullets, while ducking under a spear of wood aimed at his head.
“
The glass hit Gill, but something stopped it before it could injure him.
Lumina clapped her hands. “That’s enough. Brin wins.”
You have defeated: Gill Alert! Hide Status leveled up! 5 -> 7
Apparently more people were [Inspecting] him, now. Was this why Lumina had agreed to this? Doing the duel out in the open like this was power leveling his [Hide Status].
There was a scattering of applause, and people gawked openly at the sheer amount of wood that Gill had created for the fight. Lumina cleared it away with blades of air and tossed it outside the defensive bubble.
As he watched, a few [Carpenters] started chopping it down and handing out the logs as souvenirs. It seemed pretty popular, even though Brin knew that wood wouldn’t be as good as the stuff they cut down from the forest. It was strong now, while Gill pumped mana into it, but it would quickly weaken over time.
Next up was Rodrige. He faced Brin holding a big box full of tools. [Carpenter] Skills only worked with tools; they couldn’t do anything without them. That restriction gave benefits, though. The sheer stopping power of Rodrige’s projectiles overshadowed anything Brin could do with summoned glass.
“Let’s have a good one, yeah?” Rodrige said with a wink.
“For sure.”
“Begin,” said Lumina.
The words were already on Brin’s lips. “
Even as his shield was still forming, Rodrige already sent the first projectile his way. Brin dodged, and it exploded against the dome behind him with a crack that sounded like a firecracker.
He heard shouts of alarm from the people who’d been standing outside the bubble near where it struck.
Brin got his shield up just in time to intercept the next of Rodrige’s missiles. It hit with a shockwave that sent trembles through Brin’s bracing arm, and then another hit, and another.
He pumped magic into his shield to keep repairing it after each hit.
Rodrige shot one at a curve, coming in to hit Brin from the side. Brin got his shield there in time, but then Rodrige threw one past him, stopped it in the air, and turned it back around towards Brin’s back.
He couldn’t turn around to block it, so he summoned another shield behind him. It shattered. The tool struck Brin’s back, making him stumble forward, but not enough to stop him from blocking the next missile coming in hot from the front.
He couldn’t keep defending like this. He needed to go on the attack. He had an idea.
He turned the surface of his shield into a mirror, and then used it to direct the sun’s light into Rodrige’s eyes. He cheated with illusion magic, just a bit, making it brighter in a wider area.
“Ow!” Rodrige squinted and his next projectile missed completely.
That was enough time for Brin. Rodrige could attack, but didn’t have much for defense.
“
Rodrige managed to slash one out of the air with a flying saw, but the other two hit him directly.
Lumina clapped. “Stop. Brin wins.”
You have defeated: Rodrige
Alert! Hide Status leveled up! 7 -> 8
Rodrige chuckled and shook Brin’s hand. “Good show.”
“Thanks. You’ve got some real talent with those things.”
Rodrige pulled Brin’s hand, turning the handshake into a half-hug. “By the way, in case we don’t get a chance to talk later, I should say. I’m getting married at the end of the month. I’d like you to be there.”
Brin froze. “M-Madely?” he asked. Stupid, because who else could it be?
“The gem of my heart,” said Rodrige.
At first, Brin didn’t know what to say. Weren’t they way too young? Rodrige would barely be fifteen on his wedding day.
At the same time, this was not the world he grew up in. In Frenaria, fifteen wasn’t seen as too young to get married at all. Rodrige wasn’t like a teenager from Brin’s world. He was already established in his career. He was a combat veteran who’d already fought on the front lines and survived a desperate siege. In a world like this, when getting eaten by a monster before you turned thirty was a real possibility, why would you want to waste time? Besides, if even half the rumors were true, they were already in that kind of relationship.
Brin told himself all that, but it was still weird to him. He knew that the people his age were thinking about stuff like this, but he’d sort of written that off as teenagers being stupid, not as a real possibility. Well, it was fine for non-reincarnated people, but for him it was still way too young.
He shoved his qualms aside for now, put a supportive smile on his face and said, “Well congratulations! That’s great, really! And of course I’ll be there. Honored, honestly.”
Rodrige clapped Brin on the back one last time. “Thanks, man.” He indicated Brin’s last remaining dueling partner with his head. “Well, you best get to it.”
The last duel would be with Myra. She already held her special string in her hands, a line of nigh-unbreakable thread that she’d inherited from her mother. She didn’t look nonchalant like Rodrige or resigned like Gill. She looked serious, and something told Brin this duel wouldn’t be quite as easy as the other two.